Three Roman Bronze Appliques

Three ancient Roman bronze appliques, each with the head of a Maenad with hair adorned with a garland of flowers and eyes inlaid with glass.

Ca. 2nd - 3rd century AD. Height: 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.).

Maenads (also Bacchantes) were the frenzied female members of the retinue of Dionysos, the Greek god of wine and revelry (Roman: Bacchus). Maenads, literally "the raving ones," were often depicted in Greek art as wild and ecstatic women who indulged in sex, violence, and intoxication.